


The Cross Country Expedition

by nerdforestgirl



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-10-15 03:29:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdforestgirl/pseuds/nerdforestgirl
Summary: When Sheldon left for his train trip across the country, he had Amy meet him in secret.  Originally posted on tumblr in July of 2014.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been only four days since Sheldon had left. Amy had spoken to him on the phone a few times. She had hit Leonard with a pillow while crying about Sheldon’s absence. She had even had a couple of glasses of wine and some ice cream with Bernadette. The only problem was that Amy wasn’t sure if she was really feeling better about Sheldon being gone. Maybe she could find a few distractions until she didn’t miss him so much.

The phone started ringing, so Amy looked at it. There was her boyfriend’s smiling face looking up at her. She picked it up.

“Hello, Sheldon,” she said.

“Hello, Amy,” he said back.

“How is your trip going?” Amy asked.

“It’s going well. Thank you. I would like you to meet me,” Sheldon said.

“Meet you? Where? I can just mail you something if you need it,” Amy offered.

“You can’t mail me you. I feel bad that I did not give you a proper goodbye when I left. It’s been bothering me for the last couple days. I don’t want to come home yet, but I would very much like to see you. I thought that maybe you could meet me in Chicago. I will be there this entire weekend,” Sheldon said.

“You want me to just get on a plane and fly to you after you just ran off on me?” Amy asked.

“Yes. Exactly,” Sheldon said.

“I can’t do that. I have a job and a home and a life,” Amy said.

“Please,” was all that Sheldon said. He didn’t realize how much he would miss her until he left her behind. He knew he should have insisted that she come with from the beginning.

Amy had trouble resisting Sheldon’s pleas. Despite the fact that he was pretty needy and had a love of control, it wasn’t often that he said please. “Yeah. Okay. Let me look into it,” she said.

“Would you like to share a room or would you like your own?” Sheldon asked.

“You’d be willing to share a room with me?” Amy asked.

“Yes. I believe it would allow us to spend the most amount of time together during the weekend,” Sheldon said.

“That sounds nice,” Amy said.

Sheldon cleared his throat and said, “Very well. Call me when you have your arrangements.”

“Okay. See you soon,” Amy said. Sheldon would still be gone, but Amy hoped that she could at least get a proper goodbye from him. It might make the rest of the time he was gone a little easier.

Amy arranged for her flight and sent Sheldon her itinerary. For some reason, she didn’t want to tell any of her friends about this trip. She liked that it was just between herself and Sheldon.

That Friday, Amy ducked out of work early to travel to meet Sheldon. He was standing in the lobby of the hotel when she got there. He walked over to her and pulled her into a very tight hug.

“Whoa. I can’t breathe,” Amy said.

Sheldon loosened his hug, but did not release Amy. She just relaxed into him. “I’ve checked us in,” he told her as he finally released her.

“Okay,” Amy said. Sheldon took her bag and led her up to the room. It was a little chilly despite it being warm out on the city streets.

“Would you like to rest or clean up?” Sheldon asked awkwardly. He hadn’t had enough time to plan out every aspect of this trip. He had just been focused on seeing Amy again.

“No. Let’s go get some pizza. They’re famous for it here, right?” Amy said with a smile.

Sheldon nodded and they went back out into the streets. It felt even hotter and muggier than it had earlier. Though, it also looked like it might start raining any moment. Amy followed Sheldon down the street. He wasn’t sure where he was going. He thought there might be somewhere for them to find pizza near the hotel, but he gave up after a couple of blocks. “Maybe I should check my phone,” he said.

“There are multiple lists of ‘best pizza in Chicago.’ How am I supposed to choose?” Sheldon said frustratedly.

“That one,” Amy said as she pointed to one listed on the phone.

“Did you just pick randomly?” Sheldon asked.

“Yes. Let’s see if we can find a cab. I have no idea where we are,” she said.

“You can’t just pick randomly,” he complained.

“I just did. Let’s go,” Amy said.

They caught a cab to the restaurant that Amy had pointed to. It had started raining while they drove. I was raining hard enough to make them soaked in the time that it took them to get to the front door, only to find it was closed.

“This is why you have to research these things more carefully,” Sheldon said as the rain kept pouring on them.

“Fine. You pick one,” Amy said.

Sheldon scanned the list and found one that looked suitable to him. It was just down the block, so they decided to walk despite the rain. When they got there, the line was out the door.

“You must have picked a good one,” Amy said.

“Yes, but I don’t want to wait in this line in the rain. We’ve been standing out here long enough,” Sheldon said.

Amy looked at the list and picked one that she thought sounded good. She and Sheldon found another taxi and rode to the third restaurant. “I vote we give up if this one doesn’t have what we are looking for,” Sheldon said.

They ran into the restaurant, and were quickly seated despite the fact that they were both dripping wet. Amy slid into the booth next to Sheldon instead of across from him. He gave her a look, but allowed it. She let Sheldon order for them both because she was too hungry to argue with him.

“This is actually very good,” Sheldon said.

“It is,” Amy said, but she was enjoying being next to Sheldon more.

It was still raining when they finished their dinner and went back to the hotel. Grabbing her nightgown immediately, Amy jumped in the shower. The hot water did wonders to help her warm up, but it didn’t last for long. It still seemed cold in the room when she came back out. Her wet hair did not help matters.

“Can you turn that air conditioning down a little?” Amy asked. All the heat from the shower was gone and her teeth started chattering. Sheldon had changed into his own pajamas while she was in the bathroom.

“I tried. I think it’s broken, so I called downstairs. They said someone will be up within the hour,” he told her.

Amy climbed into her bed, but it wasn’t warm enough. “Should we go back out?” she asked.

“We’re already in our pajamas,” Sheldon said. Amy could see that he was shivering too.

“But I’m going to freeze to death before they get here. I’m going to change,” Amy said.

“It’s still raining. It’s not going to be much warmer outside. Just move over,” Sheldon said.

Amy slid over in her bed, and Sheldon got in and wrapped himself around her. He rubbed her arms to try to warm them up. It was working, and Amy felt much better. “Oh. That’s nice,” she said as she relaxed into him. They both nodded off as they held each other tightly. Then a couple hours later, there was a knock at the door.

Sheldon got out of bed to open it, and it was even colder without Amy’s warmth. The employee came in and messed with the air conditioner for a while before telling them that they would need to switch rooms. They couldn’t fix the air conditioner right away.

“We are out of rooms with two beds, so we can give you two rooms for the same price,” the person working at the front desk said when they got down to the lobby still in their pajamas and robes.

“We’ll just take the one room,” Sheldon told the front desk clerk. Then he turned to Amy and said, “We might need to keep warm.”

Amy agreed, and they were handed a new set of keys. All of their belongings were moved to the new room.

When they got upstairs, it was comfortably warm. Sheldon did a bit of a mock shiver and got into bed. “I think we are going to need to cuddle some more. It’s not cold in here, but I think I still have a bit of a chill,” he said.

“I agree,” Amy said as she got into the bed with Sheldon. She took off her glasses and sighed contentedly when he wrapped his arms back around her.

When the weekend was over, Amy really didn’t want to say goodbye to Sheldon. She didn’t know when she would see him again.

“I’m not sure when I’m coming home again, but I was thinking that you could meet me again in a few weeks,” Sheldon suggested.

“I’d like that,” Amy said. This weekend was one of the best Amy had had in a long time. It helped that Sheldon slept with her in the same bed each night. Long after that broken air conditioning unit was away from them, Sheldon claimed he had a chill that only wrapping his arms around Amy would fix.

“I hope that you can keep warm enough without me,” Amy teased.

“I stole one of your sweaters. It should help,” Sheldon said before hugging and kissing Amy goodbye.

“You didn’t,” Amy said.

“I did. The pink and red one. It’s one of my favorites. Have a safe trip, and I’ll talk to you soon,” Sheldon said before walking away.

After her long flight home, Amy went to unpack. Sure enough, her pink and red sweater was not in her suitcase. Instead, there was one of Sheldon’s shirts in it’s place.


	2. Chapter 2

Amy was looking at the last picture she had taken of herself and Sheldon in Chicago when the photo changed to one of just Sheldon. He was calling her.

“Hello, Sheldon,” Amy said cheerily.

“Hello. It looks like I’m going to be in Washington DC in a couple of weeks. I’ll be there from Wednesday to Monday the next week. Maybe you can come out for a visit for the weekend or longer if you can make it work,” Sheldon said.

“Oh? Washington DC. I love it there. Can we go to the Smithsonian?” Amy asked.

“Yes. That sounds fine. I’m going to make my hotel reservations. Would you like to share a bed again?” Sheldon asked.

“Yes, please,” Amy said. She imagined the feeling of his arms around her every night since she had gotten home from their last weekend together.

“Okay. I’ll make the arrangements. Let me know about your flight,” Sheldon said.

“Thanks,” Amy said. She found a flight that left Thursday the week of Sheldon’s stop and came back Monday. She hoped that her friends wouldn’t notice that she was missing for that long. They tried to invite her to things and include her since Sheldon was gone. She decided to just tell them all that she was visiting her mother instead. No one knew about the trip to Chicago, and she liked it that way.

Amy’s flight was long, and seemed even longer because she knew that the man she loved was waiting for her. In fact, Amy kept pulling up photos of herself and Sheldon on her phone. She pulled up one where she was kissing Sheldon on the cheek and he was making a face about it. It was her favorite one.

“Is that your young man?” the old woman sitting next to Amy asked.

“Yes. I haven’t seen him in a few weeks, and I’m going to visit him now,” Amy said excitedly.

“Is it one of those long distance things? Those were much harder in my day, but I suppose you have the email and the video chat and such things these days,” the woman said.

“He’s just traveling for the summer. He offered to let me tag along, but I have work. I can only meet him every couple of weeks. He sends me a lot of postcards. He’s been everywhere this summer,” Amy said. Then she pulled out a card from her pocket. It was sent from Nashville. It was also the first postcard that had been signed “Love, Sheldon.”

“Oh, a young man who writes. That’s a talent you don’t see often these days,” the woman said as she looked at the card that Amy had showed her.

“I’ve gotten a couple dozen from him already. I’m glad he’s thinking of me,” Amy said.

“That’s wonderful, dear,” the woman said. Amy and the woman chatted for most of the flight. Amy heard about grandchildren and bingo tournaments. Then Amy told the woman more about Sheldon.

“Thanks for chatting with me. It helped make this long flight easier. Now I get to see my Sheldon,” Amy said when they were landing.

“No problem, dear. Have a good weekend,” the woman said.

Sheldon was waiting in the lobby of the hotel just as he promised he would be. Amy ran to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Sheldon returned the hug before leaning down to give her a kiss.

“I’ve missed you,” Amy said.

“Okay,” Sheldon said. “Let’s go up to the room so you can drop your stuff off. I made us reservations for dinner. I didn’t want a repeat of Chicago.”

“I didn’t mind it. The pizza was good and I ended the night in your arms,” Amy said with a smirk.

“I plan for you to sleep in my arms again,” Sheldon said then he swallowed hard and lowered his voice. “I think about you in my arms every night as I’m going to sleep.”

“Yeah? Me too,” Amy told him.

“Good,” Sheldon said.

The room was nice when they got to it. All of Sheldon’s things were put away, but he insisted that Amy wait. Their reservations were in a half an hour, so he pulled Amy back out of the room and they went down to catch a taxi to the restaurant. It was nice, and they stayed way too late over dessert.

“Ready to go back?” Sheldon finally asked. It was nearly an hour after his old bedtime. Not that it mattered the way it once had. All of his traveling had broken up some of his schedule.

“Yeah,” Amy said.

They caught a taxi back to the hotel room. Amy wanted to take a shower after the long day of traveling, so Sheldon just changed into his pajamas and got into bed while she did that. He was watching TV when she ran over to the bed and jumped on top of it.

“I missed you,” Amy said.

“You said that earlier,” Sheldon remarked as he turned off the TV.

“It’s still true,” Amy said as she pulled back the covers and slid in next to Sheldon. He put his arm around her and pulled her to him. “I think you missed me too. It’s okay if you want to say it.”

“Fine. I missed you too,” Sheldon said into the back of Amy’s neck.

“Thank you,” Amy said as she snuggled into Sheldon’s grasp. She didn’t have to pretend that he was there that night.

When they woke up the next morning, Sheldon had made plans to visit the Smithsonian. It was all like of the spontaneity from the last weekend together was now being countered by over planning. Amy was more or less fine with it because she just wanted to spend the time with Sheldon.

“We obviously can’t see the whole thing today, but I’ve picked a few different exhibits that we should both enjoy,” Sheldon said as they left the hotel.

Throughout the day they visited different museums. They looked at inventions and art and popular culture. Sheldon had done a pretty good job balancing their interests. Still, they were both pretty tired by the time they were ready to go back to the hotel.

“Let’s just do room service,” Amy suggested. She didn’t want to try to find somewhere to eat with Sheldon.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Sheldon said as he took off his shoes and jacket. Then he looked over the menu and listed out things that he thought Amy might like. She decided to order spaghetti and a salad. Sheldon thought that sounded good, so he ordered two of them.

Amy took off her sweater and blouse and shoes and lay on the bed. She wished that Sheldon would stop playing on his computer and come over and kiss her. Then, almost as if he had heard her, Sheldon closed his computer and joined Amy.

“You don’t usually wear this little clothing around me,” Sheldon said as he pulled on Amy’s t-shirt and untucked it from her skirt. Amy was mildly alarmed that he seemed to be taking off her clothes, but he stopped there. The shirt stayed on even if Sheldon’s hands went inside of it a little to touch the skin of her waist.

“We don’t usually share a room or a bed either,” Amy said when she could finally form a coherent thought again.

Sheldon laughed a little and allowed that it was true. “This skin is soft,” Sheldon said as he kept touching her waist. “All of your skin is soft, but this is nice,” he added.

“I’d say that you could just take off the shirt, but we are waiting for food,” Amy said jokingly.

“Really? Can I after we eat dinner?” Sheldon asked.

Amy’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She couldn’t imagine Sheldon asking if he could take off her shirt, but Amy just nodded.

“Goody,” Sheldon said before placing a firm kiss on Amy’s lips. Sheldon kept kissing her. As upset as she was when he left, Amy wondered if this trip was good for him. He seemed to be opening up both to her and in general.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a knocking at the door. He stopped kissing Amy and got up to open it. She was sad to see him go, but soon there was a cart of food being wheeled into the room. Then she got up so that they could eat dinner together. It was good, but Sheldon still wished they had had little hot dogs to put into it.

When they were done with dinner, they brushed their teeth because Sheldon insisted. Amy thought that probably meant that he wanted to kiss her more, so she was happy to do it. On the bed, Sheldon put his hands on the hem of Amy’s shirt and pulled it over her head. It got caught on her glasses.

“Ow,” Amy said.

“That always looks a lot smoother in the movies,” Sheldon said as he lowered the shirt again. Amy pulled off her glasses and Sheldon tried again and this time the shirt came off. “Oh, that’s nice,” Sheldon said as he touched the lace of her bra.

“Thanks,” Amy said she was nervous about being so bare in front of Sheldon, but he just smiled at her and touched the skin of her stomach before kissing her again. They lay down and kissed for a while.

“Do you mind if I take off my shirts?” Sheldon asked after a moment.

“No. Not at all. You can take off any clothes you want,” Amy said.

Sheldon stood up and took off his shirts and then his pants. “What are you doing?” Amy asked.

“You said I could take off as much as I wanted,” Sheldon said.

“Are you? Do you want to have sex now?” Amy asked.

“Can we?” Sheldon asked.

Amy pinched her arm. Surely, she was asleep and this was a dream. Her Sheldon wouldn’t excitedly ask if they could have sex. This was just some dream caused by the frustration of him being gone.

“No?” Sheldon asked as he got back onto the bed.

Amy didn’t care if it was a dream. She decided to take him up on his offer. “I want to. Do you have any… protection?”

“Condoms? Yeah. There are some in my suitcase,” Sheldon said.

“Go get one,” Amy said and then she started pulling down her skirt.

“I wanna take off your clothes,” Sheldon whined. He didn’t get up right away. “I’ll get one when you are naked,” he said as he knocked Amy’s hands away and started pulling at her skirt.

“Hoo,” Amy said.

“Hoo, indeed,” Sheldon said as he smiled at her. He knew exactly what that meant, and he was glad to hear it. Sheldon hadn’t planned on intercourse when he invited her out to visit him exactly, but he had planned for the possibility. All those nights pretending that Amy was in his arms made him want this more than he ever had before. It was easy to take Amy for granted when she was always available. He wanted to be close to her in that way, and he wanted to give Amy this.

Sheldon finished taking off Amy’s clothes with a little help from her before he got up to grab a condom from his suitcase. Amy tried to cover her body with her hands.

“Don’t do that. I wanna see,” Sheldon said as he came back over to her. He joined her on the bed and started kissing her again. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“I am,” Amy said.

Amy liked Sheldon’s weight on top of her after he had finished. He was breathing loudly in her ear for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” Sheldon said as he rolled off of her.

“What?” Amy asked.

“I’m sorry that it was over so fast,” Sheldon said.

“That’s okay. Did you like it?” Amy asked. It wasn’t exactly what she always thought it would be. In some ways it was better and in some ways not so much. Still, it was something she had wanted with Sheldon for a long time.

“Yes. Very much so. We should do it again. We should do it all the time,” Sheldon said. “I finally understand why Howard spent so much time talking about sex and trying to get someone to have it with him. Though, I think I might always like it best with you. I can’t imagine it would be the same with another partner. It took me a long time to build up to it with you.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Amy said with a smile. If only she could have gotten him to have sex with her before. It would have convinced him to have sex with her sooner. Of course that was illogical. “If you were surprised by how much you would like it, why did you do it?”

“Because I wanted to give it to you. You came all the way out here to see me. I wanted it to be worth it for you. Instead, I enjoyed it more than you did,” Sheldon said. “It was so good,” he sighed as he drifted off to sleep next to Amy.

The next morning, Amy woke up to Sheldon propped up on his elbow and he was staring at her face. “You want to do it again?” she asked.

“Oh, can we?” he asked excitedly.

Amy laughed and nodded. Sheldon grinned and jumped out of the bed to get another condom.


	4. Chapter 4

“We should just stay in bed all day,” Amy said as she curled into Sheldon’s chest when they were done. This time was a little better for both of them.

“No can do. I have made plans for more museums for us to visit. Plus, the Lincoln Memorial,” Sheldon said.

Amy nodded. Of course Sheldon wouldn’t change is his plan just because they had sex. Amy started getting out of bed to get in the shower. She grabbed her robe and pulled it over her body before she stood up.

“I’m glad that you hide your body with all of those layers of clothing,” Sheldon said.

“Why?” Amy asked as she pulled the robe around herself tighter. He didn’t seem to have a problem with it before, and she was a little mad that he was implying that there is something wrong with it.

“Because I’m the only one who gets to see it that way. It’s like it’s my little secret under your sweater. I remember Raj once saying that you didn’t have any sexuality to flaunt. How wrong was he?” Sheldon said with a laugh.

“Oh. I was worried that you were glad you didn’t have to see it,” Amy admitted.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that,” Sheldon said as he turned on the television.

They took turns getting ready for their day and went out to breakfast. Amy slipped her hand into Sheldon’s as they walked.

“Hand holding?” Sheldon complained.

“Hey. You need to give this fight up. We had sex. You can put up with a little hand holding,” Amy said.

Sheldon got a little mopy. “Can I put my arm around your shoulders instead?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Amy said as she let Sheldon’s hand go and he pulled her closer and put his arm around her.

“Hand holding is just so uncomfortable. Thank you for allowing a compromise,” Sheldon said.

“You’re welcome,” Amy said. He had often complained about hand holding, but she thought it was just a general touching complaint. Instead it was specific to that activity. She made a note to ask for it less and for things like this more.

They wandered in and out of more museums together. Amy liked looking at some of the art, and Sheldon was patient as she stopped to look closer at some of it.

“I’d like to go to Europe one day and see some of the art there,” Amy said as they left.

“We would have to take a plane for that. Maybe that’s an adventure for next summer,” Sheldon said.

“I take a plane to see you,” Amy reminded him.

“Will you please travel the rest of the summer with me? These weekends when I get to see you are the highlights of my trip.”

“I have a job and an apartment that I need to take care of. Plus, no one even knows I’m with you right now. I told them I’m visiting my mother,” Amy said.

“You didn’t tell them?” Sheldon asked.

“No. Did you?” Amy asked.

“No,” Sheldon admitted. “I don’t think that they would understand about all of this.”

“They wouldn’t. They would think that we are sleeping together and they would think that we love each other. They just wouldn’t get it,” Amy said.

“Well, we are sleeping together and we do love each other, but I agree. They care about our love life far too much,” Sheldon said.

“They are going to find out about this eventually,” Amy said as they walked. Amy wanted to just go back to the hotel. It was hot and humid out, but Sheldon was pretty adamant about finishing their tour. Then he had made reservations for dinner again.

“I am sure they will, but it can be just ours for right now. I don’t have to be around them, so it’s easier to just not mention the trip or the love making. I’m sure Leonard will notice when you spend the night though,” Sheldon said with a smile.

Amy was pleased that he seemed to want to continue this when he eventually came home. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it still was. Then again, she was still having trouble processing the fact that they had had sex and that Sheldon liked it.

Amy was exhausted when they got back to the hotel room from their day of sightseeing. Dinner had been good and relatively romantic. She decided to just get into her nightgown and get into bed. Sheldon joined her.

“I don’t want to right now. I’m sorry,” Amy told him.

Sheldon laughed. “It’s more fun than I expected, but you’ve been dragging your feet for the last half an hour. I can see how tired you are. I’m not an animal. I can survive the night without sex. We aren’t done with it though. I’m going to get better at it,” he assured her.

“Okay,” Amy said with a smile before she snuggled into Sheldon a little. Then she was out for the night. Sheldon looked at her for a moment before he settled in to go to sleep himself. For a moment he thought about heading home with her. The idea of sleeping without her seemed difficult. Yet, Sheldon had been learning so much about himself and what he wanted in life while on this trip. He was warring between wanting Amy and wanting to continue his journey. Of course, the journey so far had made him realize how much he loved her and had showed him how good sex was. Maybe the rest of the trip would give him even more. Plus, he had one more day with her.


	5. Chapter 5

Amy woke up before Sheldon, so she slipped out of his arms to use the bathroom. She was washing her hands when she thought she heard Sheldon calling her name.

“What’s up?” Amy asked when she got back out to the room.

“I thought you left me,” Sheldon said. Amy could tell that he was upset, so she went over to the bed.

“I wouldn’t just leave, but maybe you should come home with me tomorrow. I’m going to miss you,” Amy said as she wrapped her arms around him. She usually just let him hold her to let him control the situation. This time she thought he could use the affection.

“I have two more weeks of travel paid for. Then I’m spending a week in Houston,” Sheldon said. He didn’t admit that he had thought about the same thing the night before. “Will you meet me in Houston? My mother would love to see you again, and my MeeMaw wants to meet you. My sister wants to meet you too.”

“Of course I’ll meet your family,” Amy said. She was glad that she was going to see him again before he came home. It was getting harder and harder to think of leaving him. She teared up thinking about it.

“What’s wrong?” Sheldon asked. It was his turn to pull her into his arms.

“I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want you to leave me. I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it when I talk about our future, but I don’t like thinking about a future without you,” Amy said.

“You can’t get rid of me. We have it in writing,” Sheldon said.

“I still have to leave you again tomorrow,” Amy said.

“That will be hard for both of us. How about I put in some serious thought about us living together when I get home. Will that make it easier for you to think about the future?” Sheldon asked.

Amy didn’t answer. Instead she just threw herself at him and started kissing him. Even more than the sex, Amy had wanted that kind of commitment from him. She didn’t even need him to promise that they would live together, but she loved the validation that he would at least think about it.

Amy’s experience with sex so far had not exactly been as good as she had always hoped, but she still found herself unbuttoning Sheldon’s top. She needed him.

“Oh,” Sheldon said when he realized what was happening. He just let Amy take off his clothes and then her own. She stood up and got into Sheldon’s suitcase. “They’re in the side pocket,” Sheldon said.

Amy found the condoms and came back over to him. Sheldon was already breathing heavily because he had been watching her walk around the room naked. Amy wasn’t the first woman Sheldon had seen naked, but she was the first woman that affected him this way. Amy handed Sheldon the condom and got back into the bed.

“Do you want to be on top?” Sheldon asked. She had been so in control from the moment that she started kissing him that he couldn’t imagine that she would be willing to just hand that over to him now.

“I don’t want you to see my body moving like that,” Amy said.

“I want nothing more than to see your body moving like that. What can I do to make you see how beautiful your body is? Want me to kiss it? Want me to take pictures and show you? Want me to draw you?”

“You can draw?” Amy asked, momentarily distracted from feeling self conscious about herself.

“I’m proficient in a number of styles. I will draw you a hundred portraits of your beautiful body if it will make you see how sexy you are,” Sheldon said.

Amy just started kissing Sheldon again. Despite his general attitude and insensitivity, he had a way of making her feel beautiful in a way that no one else ever had.

After, Sheldon wouldn’t let go of Amy even as he knew he was going to fall asleep. “I told you I would get better,” Sheldon muttered.

“Maybe I got better,” Amy said. She felt like she should have known it was going to take a few tries to get it right.

“Maybe. We were supposed to tour more today,” he said sleepily.

“Later,” Amy said back before she closed her eyes.

They were awoken by Housekeeping knocking on the door.

“Oops,” Sheldon said as he checked his watch. It was nearly lunch time, and they had slept all morning. Sheldon pulled on his robe and asked the person at the door if they could come back in a half an hour. Then he pulled Amy into the shower with him so that they could get ready for the day.

“Let’s just skip the touring today. We’ll go have lunch and then maybe see a movie,” Sheldon said as he watched Amy get dressed.

“Oh no. My Sheldon has been replaced by a duplicate. I should have known when he wanted to have sex with me,” Amy said.

“I have not been replaced by a duplicate. I’m insulted that you don’t believe I can change,” Sheldon said.

Amy walked over to him. She wasn’t wearing a shirt yet, and he was clearly distracted by that. “I believe that you had the ability to change. I didn’t believe that you would want to,” she said as she leaned down to kiss him.

Sheldon closed his eyes when she kissed him and kept them closed after she pulled away. “You have to get dressed now,” he muttered.

“Okay,” Amy said as she went back to getting dressed. When she was ready, they left the room together to go to lunch. As Sheldon suggested, they ate lunch and went to see a movie. Amy tried to get Sheldon to make out with her a little during the movie.

“No. I wanna watch this,” he said.

“Yep. Still my Sheldon,” Amy muttered, but then Sheldon slid his hand up and down her thigh for a while while he kept watching the movie. Maybe not quite her Sheldon, then.


	6. Chapter 6

When Amy kissed Sheldon goodbye the next morning when she left for the airport, she wondered how he would be changed when she met up with him again in Texas. Two weeks seemed impossibly far from where she stood, but at least when that was over, he was coming home. Maybe they could sleep together every night when he got back.

It was hard to stay strong as she made her way through security and to her plane that would take her home. Twice, Amy wondered if it would be such a terrible idea to just drop everything and follow him. Instead, she knew that she had an important life beyond Sheldon. Her work was important and her friends were important. It wasn’t worth it to drop all of that for Sheldon. Seeing him in a couple weeks would have to be enough. Amy never wanted to be one of those women who dropped everything in her life for a man. Even if that man was Sheldon Cooper.

Amy decided to text Sheldon as soon as she landed.

Miss you. - A

Miss you too. I’ve been sketching you for the last hour, but I can’t get the curve of your breast. - S

You haven’t? - A

I have. I’ll send you a picture – S

That text was followed by a picture of a pencil drawing. It was Amy. Amy put her hand over her mouth because it was a good likeness, but she was also nude. It was very detailed. He even included the heart shaped birthmark on her hip. Amy had no idea that he had studied her so closely over the weekend.

Please be careful with that. I don’t want anyone finding it. I don’t want your mother finding it. - A

Would you like me to destroy it? Though, do not worry about my mother. I informed her that we would be sleeping in the same room when you came to visit in Texas. She asked if we were having sex, and I told her yes. - S

You told your mother? Why would you do that? - A

She would have figured it out after a minute and a half of us being together in front of her. It’s better to just tell her the truth. Plus, she is allowing us to share a room. - S

Really? That doesn’t seem like her. - A

I caught her having sex with her boyfriend on her couch once. I reminded her of that, and she was surprisingly accommodating. - S

That is far too much information. You don’t need to destroy the drawing as long as you promise to be careful with it. - A

Amy tried to go about her normal life for the next two weeks. She couldn’t tell Penny or Bernadette about having sex with Sheldon. Before she left Washington, they had agreed not to tell any of their friends. When they invited her to girls’ night, she almost spilled the beans twice.

“How are you doing without Sheldon?” Bernadette asked.

“It’s hard. I just keep imagining him holding me while I sleep,” Amy said. She tried not to say, “I had sex with Sheldon. Three times. He likes it and wants to do it again.”

“That’s quite the imagination. Still hoping he’ll move in with you when he gets back?” Penny said.

“Yes. That’s what it is. He said he would think about it,” Amy admitted.

“Wow. You guys are progressing quite a bit even with him gone,” Bernadette said. She smiled at Amy and looked genuinely happy for her.

“Yeah. I miss him a lot,” Amy said. That was completely true. She was counting down the days until she left for Houston.

When that time finally came, Amy was excited to see Sheldon again. She even got to the airport over an hour earlier for her flight than she needed. There was no one to talk to this time, so Amy spent most of the flight trying to get caught up on work. She had taken a couple days off for this trip too.

At the luggage claim, Amy found her bag and was about find a taxi to take her to Sheldon’s mother’s home when she noticed him waiting for her. He was bickering with a tall woman holding a baby. She could only be Missy.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming to pick me up?” Amy asked when she wrapped her arms around Sheldon’s middle. He hadn’t even really noticed her until she was hugging him.

“I thought it would be a nice surprise,” he said as he returned the hug.

“It was, but I almost left without you,” Amy said with a little laugh.

“Oh, sugar, you are just too cute,” Missy said. She handed the baby over to Sheldon and pulled Amy into a hug of her own. “I’m Sheldon’s sister, Missy,” she said.

Amy awkwardly hugged Missy back. Missy took her son back and led Amy and Sheldon out of the airport and back to her car and to Sheldon’s mother’s house. Amy sat in the back with the baby and watched him sleep while she answered Missy’s random questions.


	7. Chapter 7

At the house, Amy met MeeMaw, Junior, and Missy’s husband. She also greeted Mary. There were so many people. It wasn’t like Amy didn’t know she was going to meet Sheldon’s family, but it was clear it was going to be unlike the other weekends she had spent with Sheldon over the summer. There wasn’t going to be a lot of alone time for them here.

Sheldon grabbed Amy’s bag and took it back to his room.

“Wait. Mom’s letting you share a room?” Junior said. “That isn’t fair. She never let me have girls spend the night.”

“You haven’t tried to have a girl in this house since you moved out when you were nineteen,” Mary countered. “Maybe I would let you have a girl spend the night now.”

“Would you?” Junior asked.

“Of course not. Shelly’s my favorite,” Mary joked.

“I knew it,” Junior said before winking at Amy as she followed Sheldon back.

She looked around his room. There were more toys and more things on the walls, but it was very similar to his room in California. She noticed that there was only a twin sized bed.

“Oh. I’m going to have to sleep practically on top of you,” Amy said.

“That’s the plan,” Sheldon said. “However, if you believe that there is not enough space for both of us, my sister’s old room is available.”

“I’ve had to go two and a half weeks not sleeping with you. I’ll take the little bed and I’ll like it,” Amy said with a smirk.

“Let’s go have dinner with everyone else,” Sheldon said. “Mom made chicken,” he said excitedly and pushed Amy back out of his room. She hoped that he would want to kiss or touch her a little more while they were alone, but then she remembered that he was still Sheldon.

Everyone asked Amy a million questions about how she and Sheldon had met and about her and her family and her hobbies. It seemed like as soon as she finished answering one of MeeMaw’s questions, Mary had one waiting. Everyone else had finished eating, and Amy only had gotten a few bites in.

“Oh dear. We were certainly rude to our guest,” MeeMaw said when she realized that they hadn’t given Amy very much time to eat.

“We better take him home,” Missy said as the baby started crying. “It was nice getting to meet you, Amy.”

“You too. Thanks for the ride,” Amy told her.

“Anytime, sugar,” Missy said before leaving with her husband and son.

Then Junior decided it was time to go home too. He kissed Amy on the cheek and gave Sheldon a noogie.

“Don’t kiss my woman again,” Sheldon said.

“Don’t make me steal her from you,” Junior said back.

“Like you could,” Sheldon scoffed.

Mary and MeeMaw got up to put the food away and do dishes. That meant that Sheldon and Amy were alone in the dining room while she finished her dinner.

“I like your family,” Amy said.

“I’m glad,” Sheldon said.

“Did you miss me? I missed you,” Amy asked.

“I did. I’ll show you my drawings before we go to bed,” Sheldon said.

“Oh, are you drawing again?” Mary asked when she walked back into the room. “I haven’t seen you draw for nearly fifteen years. You got all caught up in that sciencey stuff and dropped it. I always thought you could do a lot more for the Lord with your art.”

“I’ve just been drawing Amy. It’s not a big deal. Would you like to see some of them?” Sheldon asked.

Amy hit Sheldon, and he muttered, “Not those ones,” before going back to his room. When he came back out, he handed his mother a couple of drawings of Amy.

“Oh, these are lovely,” Mary said before handing them to Amy.

“I spend about half my time on the train trying to get excited about String Theory again and the other half of my time thinking about Amy,” Sheldon said with a fond smile.

“Okay, that reminds me. I know you two are doing certain things now. I suppose I would rather that you two wait until you are married, but it’s not any of my business. I’m okay with you sleeping in the same bed, but you two better be discreet. I will make you separate under my roof if it comes to that. Understood?” Mary said suddenly.

Sheldon and Amy both nodded.

“Good. I hope that’s all we have to say on that matter,” Mary said. “Why don’t you two go on to bed? Your MeeMaw and I will finish cleaning up.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Mom,” Sheldon said as he stood up.

“Are you sure, Mrs. Cooper? I would be more than happy to help. You’ve been so hospitable to me,” Amy asked.

“No. You kids go on to bed. You’ve been traveling all day, and I’m sure you have plenty of catching up to do since you haven’t seen each other in a couple weeks,” Mary said with a smile.

“Yeah. Come on, Amy,” Sheldon said. “I can show you my Lego collection.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cooper. Have a good night,” Amy said before following Sheldon back to his room.

She was expecting Sheldon to start pulling out his old toys, but he pulled Amy in for a kiss as soon as they were alone.

“It’s been too long since we’ve done that,” Amy said.

“I agree,” Sheldon said. He started unbuttoning Amy’s sweater.

“We can’t. Your mother just gave us a lecture,” Amy said.

“She said to be discreet. Not that we can’t,” Sheldon said.

“We shouldn’t,” Amy said.

“You’re no fun,” Sheldon pouted, but he let her go.

“Compromise? We make out on your bed for a while?” Amy offered.

“I want sex,” Sheldon whined. “Let me show you the rest of my drawings,” Sheldon added after a second. Then he pulled out a sketchbook and flipped through it. There were a number of drawings of Amy in various states of undress. To be fair, there were more of her clothed than naked. Then she stopped on one that was a close up of her face with her eyes closed and she was biting her lip.

“Isn’t it great? That’s you when… you know,” Sheldon said. “It’s been burned into my memory.”

“Everything is burned into your memory,” Amy said. She felt a certain amount of embarrassment that Sheldon had captured this moment, but she also felt very loved by him. When he said he would draw her over and over again, she didn’t really believe him.

“Well, I saw how the thinking about me is going. How is the quest to rediscover your love for String Theory?” Amy asked. She closed the sketchbook. It was hard to see so many representations of herself.

“Not nearly as well. I’m hoping that the University might let me change my focus still. If they don’t, I have a few ideas of what I want to do next. I just don’t feel like my heart is in it the same way that it used to be,” Sheldon said.

“Maybe it will be easier when you get back to the University,” Amy said.

“Maybe. Let’s make out now,” Sheldon said. He didn’t like how much he needed Amy or how much he liked being physical with her, but she was there and he could think of little else. He had missed her too much.

“Okay,” Amy said.

As Amy suspected, this weekend was different than the others that she had spent with Sheldon over the summer. For one, they rarely chose when or where they spent time together. Mary was constantly dragging them to bingo games and other church functions. She seemed to be determined to make sure as many people as possible met Amy while she was in town.

Still, Sheldon and Amy had a fair amount of alone time. Despite Mary’s warnings about how they needed to be discreet, she sent them to bed right after dinner each night that Amy was in town.

“I don’t understand your mother. She takes us to church stuff all day, but then sends us in here to be alone at night. It’s a bit of a mixed message,” Amy said on her second night at Mary’s. She only had one more night with Sheldon. She was tempted to give into him and have sex. She went home on Sunday and then there was another week until Sheldon returned to California. Who knew that one week could seem so long?

Sheldon just shrugged. “I think she likes that I’m in a normal relationship now. That’s why she’s letting you sleep in here. I’m not really her favorite,” Sheldon said. “Plus, I think she thinks she is going to get more grandchildren out of this. Joke’s on her.”

Amy hated when Sheldon put down her dreams of getting married and having kids, so she didn’t say anything. Instead she just moved to Sheldon’s bed. It had been a tight fit the night before, but Amy would rather share the little bed than sleep alone.

“Come here,” Amy said.

“I’m working on this,” Sheldon said as he kept playing with his Lego set.

“Really? Lego is better than sex?”

“What? We can have sex? Goody,” Sheldon said. He dropped the toys on the desk and stood up. He found a condom in his suitcase and started taking off his clothes.

“You have to make sure I’m quiet,” Amy said. “If I start making noises, you have to promise me that you’ll cover my mouth.”

“I can do that,” Sheldon said.

“And we have to go slow. This needs to be quiet. Do you understand?” Amy asked. “I will be mad at you if you get us separated. I only get tonight and tomorrow night with you before I go home again.”

“Okay. You’re being bossy,” Sheldon said. “Maybe I should cover your mouth now.”

“Don’t make me change my mind,” Amy said.

Sheldon nodded his head.

“Good boy,” Amy said, and Sheldon glared at her.

“Maybe I don’t want to anymore,” he said.

“I’m sorry about teasing you, but I’m serious about being quiet,” Amy said. Then she sat up and started pulling off her clothes. Sheldon made a fuss about letting him do it, so she stopped to let him do it. They were both annoyed by how much control the other had over them.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, Amy was nervous as they went out to have breakfast, but Mary just smiled at them as she gave them each a stack of pancakes. She didn’t say anything about them needing to spend the night apart. Amy was relieved.

“How are you so skinny?” Amy asked Sheldon. “I’m pretty sure I’ve gained ten pounds in the last two days from your mother’s excellent cooking.”

“I didn’t notice any weight changes last night,” Sheldon said.

Amy slapped Sheldon’s leg under the table. He said things like that without thinking. Their friends were sure to find out that they had been intimate in no time when they got home. She wondered why they were even keeping it a secret.

“What?” Sheldon said.

“Don’t say things like that in front of your mother,” Amy said.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Sheldon said to his mother.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore,” Mary said.

“See? She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Sheldon said.

“Then you don’t bring it up,” Amy warned.

“We’re done, kids. Why don’t we talk about going to this church picnic today,” Mary said.

“Really, Mom? Another church activity?” Sheldon complained.

“Yes. Another church activity. I need to remind you both of Jesus’ love for you as much as I can while you’re here,” Mary said.

Amy and Sheldon went with Amy to the church picnic, and Sheldon even grabbed Amy’s hand while they were there. When Amy remembered that he didn’t like it, she let go of it and pulled his arm around her shoulders.

Amy tried to get Sheldon to sneak off so that they could make out for a while, but he warned her that it would get them in big trouble. Instead he got her more food and took her to play games against the kids. When Missy showed up an hour later, Amy asked if she could hold the baby.

“Of course, sugar,” Missy said as she handed him over.

“Don’t do that. She’ll want one of her own,” Sheldon whined.

“You hush,” Missy told Sheldon before hitting him.

Amy ignored them both and just spoke softly to the baby. “I’m your Uncle Sheldon’s friend, Amy, and you are just the cutest little boy. You have beautiful blue eyes just like your mommy,” Amy said.

“See? She clearly wants one now,” Sheldon said.

“Then you give her one,” Missy said.

“He doesn’t need a cousin. We’re not ready for that. He can revel in being the only grandchild for a little while longer,” Amy said before tickling his stomach a little. She smiled when the baby giggled. Missy let her hold onto him for a bit longer while she got something to eat.

When her son started getting fussy, Missy came back to get him from Amy. “Thanks for holding onto him while I ate,” she said.

“It was my pleasure,” Amy said.

“No babies,” Sheldon warned Amy.

Amy just rolled her eyes at Sheldon before Mary came and took them to introduce Amy to more people. Mary seemed to have a lot of friends, and each and every one of them seemed shocked that Sheldon had a girlfriend. Amy tried not to be offended by that.

That night, Mary sent Sheldon and Amy to bed right after dinner again. Amy was tired, so she insisted Sheldon cuddle with her in bed.

“Are you sure I can’t talk you into staying here with me for the rest of the week?” Sheldon said.

“I need to get back to work. At least it’s just this week and then you’ll be home. Then we can figure out how many nights we want to spend together,” Amy said.

“That’s silly. It’s all of them, of course,” Sheldon said.

“You want to live together?” Amy asked.

“Oh. I guess, I do. I didn’t really put that together, but it looks like I found my answer,” Sheldon said with a shrug.

“No. This is too easy. I’m pretty sure that you just left and I’ve had a crazy dream that we spent these wonderful weekends together. That’s clearly what happened. The night in Chicago when you held me in your arms to keep me warm. The way you hugged me when I first saw you in Washington. The way you looked at me when we first made love. Every moment we’ve been here in Texas. All of it’s in my imagination,” Amy said.

Sheldon laughed. “I suppose I can see why you are saying that. The truth is that you’ve been changing me for a while. That’s why I wanted to break up with you six months ago. I don’t like change, and I certainly don’t like being changed by someone.”

“So?”

“So, what?”

“So, why are you changing then?”

“Oh. That’s simple. I love you and I missed you,” Sheldon said.

“Still pretty sure that I’m dreaming,” Amy said.

“Come on. Let’s go to sleep. I need to get up early in the morning, sit through a boring church service, and then watch the woman I love get on a plane and leave me. It’s going to be a long day,” Sheldon said.

“Don’t remind me,” Amy said as she curled into Sheldon’s chest.

At the airport, Sheldon was very subdued. Amy hugged Mary and MeeMaw goodbye and thanked them for the hospitality over the weekend.

“Of course. You come back any time. Try to bring this one with you,” Mary said to Amy.

“I will,” Amy said. Then Sheldon’s mother and grandmother left them alone.

Amy could see that there were tears forming in the corners of Sheldon’s eyes. She tried to ignore them because she knew she would start crying too.

“I didn’t know,” Sheldon said.

“You didn’t know what?” Amy asked.

“When I got on that train back in May, I didn’t know how much I loved you. I didn’t know what I wanted in my life. Penny took me to that stupid psychic, and I’m not putting any validity to what she said, but she told me that once I committed to you, everything would fall into place. I’m just saying that maybe she wasn’t completely wrong.”

“Okay. I’m glad to hear it. I have to go now. I love you, and you should kiss me goodbye,” Amy said.

“Okay,” Sheldon said and did exactly that.

“I’ll see you at home. I probably won’t stay the first night you are home. I don’t want to freak everyone else out, but we’ll work it out,” Amy said.

“Alright,” Sheldon said. He was trying not to cry. “You ruined me,” he muttered as he put his fingers to his eye to catch a tear that had escaped.

“I did not. I love you. Bye,” Amy said. Then she got on her toes to give him one more kiss before walking away. She was glad it was the last time she had to say goodbye to him for a while. It was getting harder each time she saw him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue that was actually written first

Sheldon was coming home, so everyone was together to throw him a little party. Amy was excited to see him again, and she was nearly bouncing as they waited for him to walk into the apartment. When he arrived, Amy ran over to him and threw herself into his arms. Sheldon caught her and hugged her tightly.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Sheldon told her.

“Me too,” Amy said. Then she got on her toes and waited for Sheldon to give her a kiss. He kissed her for long enough that everyone else felt weird looking on.

Leonard and Penny looked at each other. They both wondered why Sheldon and Amy were being so affectionate. They believed that Sheldon would be even more standoffish than ever. Instead he was making out with his girlfriend in front of everyone.

“We got a few of your favorites,” Amy said after they stopped kissing. Then she took his hand and led him to his spot. She was the only one who sat there during the last four months.

“It’s Thai night,” Sheldon said.

“I know, but we thought you might be missing some of your other favorites too,” Amy said with a smile. She was just so happy that he was home. She loaded him up a plate of some of his favorite foods.

“So, buddy, tell us about your travels,” Leonard said.

Sheldon launched into story after story about the places that he went and the things that he saw. After a tale about searching for pizza in Chicago and getting caught in the rain, Amy said, “That was my favorite.”

“Talked a lot on the phone?” Bernadette asked.

“Yes. The phone. Also postcards. I have received more than seventy-five postcards from Sheldon. Some from the same city,” Amy said.

The gang listened to Sheldon’s stories. They missed him, so even his tedious stories were a little fun to listen to. Plus, they were kind of interesting because they took place all over the country. Every once in a while, Sheldon would wink at Amy. Everyone wondered what that meant. How had they gotten closer over the summer when he was gone?

The conversation shifted away from Sheldon as everyone started talking about what they were up to and what movies were coming out and the like. It transformed into a pretty normal night after that. Sheldon was still living in 4A for at least the time being, and he was starting to feel tired. Amy got up and hugged Sheldon and wished him a good night.

“I wish I could stay, but we should probably keep up our cover. It’s not raining, but it could have been like Chicago; holding each other to try to get warm,” she said quietly. However, she did not seem to have said it quietly enough.

“Wait, what?” Howard asked.

“Nothing,” Amy said. Her eyes were wide in terror. Amy knew she’d been caught. She and Sheldon had agreed not to say anything about the weekends they had spent together over the summer. She thought she had been quiet enough for no one to overhear her as she said goodbye.

“No. I heard you say that you held each other in Chicago. Sheldon, did you finally become a man?” Howard teased.

“It wasn’t like that,” Sheldon said.

“But you two did spend time together this summer?” Penny asked.

“Yes. Amy and I met up in Chicago, Washington DC, and Houston. We didn’t want to tell you because we didn’t think you would understand. I felt bad that I hadn’t given Amy a proper goodbye, so I invited her to meet me in Chicago. It was a good trip, so we decided to meet up a couple more times during my travels,” Sheldon explained.

No one really believed that it could be true, but looking at Sheldon as he kept his hand on Amy’s hip, they knew it had to be. Something had happened between them over the summer. Sheldon was being affectionate with Amy because of what they had shared.

“Well, the cat’s out of the bag. You can stay now if you want,” Sheldon told Amy.

She nodded and they went back to Sheldon’s room together without another word.


End file.
